Institute for Biblical & Scientific Studies

Other Views:
Michael Sanders

There is a web site called Mysteries
of the Bible produced by Michael Sanders. Sanders makes extraordinary
claims, but lacks the extraordinary evidence to back them up.

Sanders claims to know where the Ark of the Covenant is!

Michael Sanders believes that the Ark is in the village of Djaharya in
Israel. I think that his chronology and interpretation of Egyptian texts
are off. The location at Djaharya sounds similar to Egyptian words, but
similar sounds do not mean they are the same. I think Rohl in his books
also assumes that similar sounding words must be the same. Djahi is a general
area for part of Palestine and Phoenicia (See A Concise Dictionary of
Middle Egyptian by Raymond O. Faulkner 1991, 319). I looked up all the
occurrences of Djahi in ANET, and they do not seem to fit the location of
Djaharya. Pekanan is literally "the Canaan" according to Breasted.
The "Pe" is the article "the" plus "Canaan."
(This is what I remember from taking Egyptian Hieroglyphics) Djahi and Pekanan
are two different Egyptian words, that are general geographic terms, and
should not be put together to form a new word Djahi Pakaanan. These two
words seem to be used in parallel. There were a number of Egyptian Temples
in Canaan not just in Djaharya. His web site about the Ark of the Covenant.
More information about the Ark of
the Covenant.

Sanders claims to know where the city of Sodom is!

Michael Sanders believes that Sodom and Gomorrah are on the bottom of the
Dead Sea. He has even used a submarine to dive down to the bottom to see
what is there. You can see pictures of this at Dead Sea.

The problem is that there is no evidence that this is Sodom. Sodom is most
likely to be identified with the modern site name Bab edh-Dhra. Even in
an earlier lecture Sanders seems to think that Bab edh-Dhra is Sodom (See
Sodom & Gomorrah).
Gomorrah is identified with Numeira. Walter Rast and Thomas Schaub excavated
these sites starting in 1975. (See American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR)
website) The Smithsonian Institution has some of the remains of bones and
pottery from Bab edh-Dhra in their Natural History Museum in the exhibit
of "Origins of Western Culture" on the second floor. There was
a total of five Early Bronze Age sites that matched the five cities of the
plain mentioned in Genesis 14. Probably an earthquake caused an eruption
of gas, oil, sulfur, salt, and bitumen to rain down on Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Dead Sea is right on a fault line where earthquakes occur.

Sanders is all mixed up in his chronology!

Sanders cuts out several hundred years out of Egyptian chronology to make
it fit with Biblical chronology. He seems to follow David
Rohl's theories. Most scholars equate the Biblical Shishak with the
Egyptian king Sheshonq I. Sanders rejects the evidence for this.

Scarab of Sheshonq I. He ruled Egypt from 945-924 BC.

The Hebrew name Shishak matches the Egyptian name of Sheshonq I in Egyptian
history. Sheshonq is the founder of the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt. Sheshonq
I ruled from 945-924 BC. He was from a Libyan tribe who became commander-in-chief,
then King. He was a strong leader who reunited Egypt. 2 Chronicles 12:3-4
says, "With 1200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen and the innumerable troops
of Libyans, Sukkites (mercenary Libyan soldiers) and Cushites (Upper Egypt)
that came with him from Egypt, he captured the fortified cities of Judah
and came as far as Jerusalem" (NIV). Note the many troops from Libya.
Thutmose III nor Rameses II would not have had an army composed of mainly
outsiders, but Egyptians. There are inscriptions of Sheshonq's campaign
into Palestine on the wall of the temple of Amon in Karnak. ANET, 263; ANEP,
349; ANE 1, fig.94. It says that Sheshonq I went as far as Megiddo where
a victory stele was erected. ANET 242-3 has a list the the cities he captured.
For more information on the list see Handbook for the Study of Egyptian
Topographical Lists Relating to Western Asia by J. Simons, Leiden 1937
(pp.90-101,178-186: see also Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt,
Vol. 4, paragraph 709).

Sanders Claims to have found the Garden of Eden!

Sanders now claims that Eden is in Eastern Turkey. See Eden - North
for a satellite photo of Eden. Earlier in his lectures Sanders spends much
time showing how the island Bubiyon in Southern Iraq is the probable location
of Eden. Sanders seems to flip-flop in his views. See his earlier lecture
at In Search of Eden.
He now seems to follow David Rohl's theory on the
location of Eden. There are a number of problems with this view.

In "Legend: The Genesis of Civilization" Rohl has located the
Garden of Eden between Lake Urmia and the Caspian Sea. His exegesis of names
seems way off. Similar sounding names do not mean they are the same. The
"source" of a river is what we call the "mouth" of a
river today, which Rohl and Sanders fails to understand. More information
on the Garden of Eden.